Conference 7.286::digital

    Any company address's or phone numbers?
    
    Marc H.

The one that had 'universal' connections and allowed you to mix and match
CPUs, disks, tapes, etc. in the same cabinet?

Bob

    RE: .2
    
    Bob,
    
    Yep, that's the one.  Mix 'n' match your components.
    
    Bo

    How does one get in contact with KO?  Either with a business idea
    and/or to submit a resume to help him put a company together?
    
    Scott

    Then that report is contrary to what the Globe printed on March 10. 
    In "Ken Olsen: Unretiring", Joan Vennochi writes:  "there's no new
    company, despite rumors he's about to start one.  Although he's not
    bound by a non-compete agreement, Olsen says, 'I wouldn't start a
    competitor.  It's just not my style.'  He admits only to THINKING about
    starting a business."
    
    As to KO's investments, he is quoted in the article: "'They all want me
    to invest.  But where I invest, I'm not telling anybody.'"

This raises an interesting question -

    When DIGITAL abandons a product or project, do they relinquish any and
   all rights/claims/interest in it, thereby making it "fair game" for any
   entrepreneur to follow up on? Is this generally the case with most
   companies?

-Jack

    any product is fair game, abandoned or not.  Just don't walk out with
    any Engineering documents in your hands.  They are the property of
    Digital Equipment Corp.
    
    Mark

>>    any product is fair game, abandoned or not.  Just don't walk out with
>>    any Engineering documents in your hands.  They are the property of
>>    Digital Equipment Corp.
    
I worked in the Data Servers Business Unit before December layoff week.
The "tower" shown in the Globe with Barry Goldstein standing next to it
was developed in that group and shown at DECworld last year.  Towers were
also sent out to potential customers who signed PIDs (proprietary information
disclosures.) 

Digital owns more than engineering documents.  What about intellectual
property?  Towers are still in the labs here in Shrewsbury.  Some are
being used here.

I'd like to see the legal department follow up on this.  Could someone
from legal comment on what Digital owns?

My blood began to boil very early in the morning yesterday when I opened
my Boston Globe.

>I'd like to see the legal department follow up on this.  Could someone
>from legal comment on what Digital owns?

	If you'd really like Legal to comment you'll probably have to do
	more then just say so in a Notes conference. This is far from a
	formal procedure. Of course, if there is something going on that
	is infringing on Digital's patents or other claim, Digital Legal
	has never been shy about suing people.

	One possibility is that Digital has agreed (for compensation maybe)
	to let some other company build towers. We've done this before. 


	As for KO, if he was starting a company the Globe is probably the last
	paper he'd tell. Also I wouldn't be surprised if he's investing in
	more then a few start-ups. He may even be serving on their boards.
	He may not concider that starting a new company. I'm not sure I would
	either. Though if I were starting up a company I wouldn't mind using
	Ken's money. I suspect that his being on the board and available to
	consult would be worth at least as much as his money to me. Heck, with
	Ken Olsen on my board I probably wouldn't have much trouble raising
	money from other sources.

			Alfred

I've mailed marked maps for MetroWest and Vermont to the author of the GLOBE 
article.  Both this and the earlier (3/10) version stated that Ken's DEC 
resident office is in Stowe [sic] (it's in OGO).

    KO always claimed the Globe never got anything right!
    

    Can you please post the article for those of us that are non-Boston
    residents ?   Thanks !

============================================================================
SUBJECT:  DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP. FOUNDER RETURNS TO ENTREPRENEURIAL RANKS
SOURCE:   Knight-Ridder via First! by INDIVIDUAL, Inc.
DATE:     March 24, 1993
INDEX:    [3]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The Boston Globe via First! : Ken Olsen isn't done yet.

  The legendary founder of Digital Equipment Corp. has been lying low since
being ousted from Digital last year. Now he's betting on a tiny Concord
start-up run by a coterie of executives who just left Digital, the computer
giant in nearby Maynard, Mass.

  Modular Computing Technologies Inc. is the first business venture Olsen
has been linked to since resigning under pressure in July from the
struggling Digital. It marks a return to the entrepreneurial fray for the
67-year-old Olsen, who founded Digital in a Maynard wool mill back in 1957.
This time, Olsen is quietly backing an ambitious and secretive three-month-
old upstart operating out of a sleek, red brick and glass office building in
the Concord-Acton Industrial Park.

  The 35-person computer firm is an example of a new breed of company that
is reshaping the economy in New England and the nation. With behemoths such
as IBM, Digital and Sears on the financial ropes, job growth and economic
activity increasingly are in the hands of nimble young companies. Indeed,
some specialists see the economy dividing into two camps - "elephants" and
"gazelles." Many of the emerging companies such as Modular are being started
by people leaving the ailing giants such as Digital.

  Modular won't comment on whether Olsen is funding it. But computer
industry sources say the former Digital chief is the financial angel behind
Modular, which plans to announce its computer products by midyear.

  But Modular does say Olsen is serving as its adviser, showing up
frequently at the company. "He has been an incredible friend," said Barry C.
Goldstein, Modular's president and chief executive officer, who worked as a
senior engineer at Digital until January. "He comes over and visits us,
offers us advice technically. He is probably one of the most brilliant high-
tech minds I have ever met," said Goldstein, a personal friend of Olsen's.

  "He's bankrolling it," said a Digital executive, who noted that one of
Olsen's "stated goals" is to "help Digital people into some new ventures."

  The computer venture was formed in December, after its parent, Modular
Group Inc., raised $1.44 million from a "private investor," according to a
financial report obtained by the Boston Globe. Modular says it hasn't any
debt and has even turned down venture capital investors.

  Olsen declined to speak about Modular. But Ann Jenkins, his executive
assistant, said: "He is providing general advice that a small company might
want from someone who's been there. A lot of people are approaching him.
He's having great fun doing it. He works more closely with Modular than the
others." Olsen works out of an office in Stowe, only a few miles from
Modular.


  Providing seed money would seem affordable for Olsen. As of September, he
owned or had options on 2.6 million Digital shares, or 2 percent of the
company's stock. The shares would be worth $117 million today. Olsen also
was eligible to receive an estimated yearly pension of $439,303, according
to Digital proxy materials.

  Like Olsen, Modular's principal executives are fresh emigres from Digital.
Goldstein, the company's head and chief technologist, worked the past three
years at Digital, following a 21-year stint at IBM. Dan Lucky, 48, Modular's
vice president of information systems and customer services, spent 19 years
at Digital. Stanley R. Miloszewski, 38, Modular's treasurer, and Terry
Potter, 45, chief executive of Modular's parent, exited in December from
Digital, where they had worked for 9 years and 15 years, respectively.

  Modular plans a foray into the hot new market for computer "servers." The
powerful machines act as a traffic cop on complex networks of personal
computers, transporting big chunks of data at high speeds. Servers are
usurping mainframes and minicomputers, which generally run on proprietary
software. Unlike mainframes and minis, the new generation of servers is
designed to work with off-the-shelf software that is standard on today's
desktop computer networks.

  Ironically, by backing Modular, Olsen would help usher out the "Old World"
of minicomputers that he pioneered at Digital. In effect, he's embracing the
"New World" of "client-server" computing, in which a server directs a
network of up to hundreds of desktop "client" machines.

  Modular claims its forte is good packaging: Its machines will pack the
power of a mainframe, yet be as easy to put together as the pieces of a home
stereo. Hence the name Modular Computing. One of its typical machines stands
chest-high, enclosed in a cabinet made of wood and black-cherry metal. The
desktop "client" is a computer barely larger than a brick and weighing less
than five pounds.

  Goldstein likened his computers to "tinker toys" that are easily hooked
together. "It's as easy as snapping things together," he crowed as he showed
visitors around the company's "engineering pit," a large room where staffers
were busy assembling test models.

  Eyeing the ever-growing market for networked computing, Goldstein
ambitiously declared that his goal is $1 billion in annual revenue in three
to four years.

  Robert J. Sakakeeny, an analyst at market researcher InfoCorp., said such
torrid growth is "possible," but "they've got to have something dynamite."

  However, Olsen's backing doesn't necessarily clinch the company's success.
"It could help ... if he in fact is involved. Somebody of that stature is
going to open a lot of doors," said Sakakeeny. However, "he left (Digital)
under a cloud. It cuts both ways," the analyst said.

  No matter, Modular seems to fit Olsen's interests. At Digital, Goldstein
worked on high-end data servers, a pet project of Olsen's that was killed
after the founder's exit.

  "Ken loves good packaging. He personally was sponsoring this (project).
Then it was cancelled in November," said Carl Redfield, a former
manufacturing manager at Digital.


  "Ken and Barry spent a lot of time together. Ken was interested in the
superserver area," said Grant Saviers, a 24-year Digital veteran who is now
president of Adaptec Inc., a Milpitas, Calif., electronics company.

  "We are bringing together people who had dreams about what computing
should look like," said Goldstein. "Digital chose not to have this dream."

  It's a dream that may be getting overcrowded. Server start-ups are
cropping up around the country. And mainstream computer makers such as IBM,
Compaq and even Digital, are pushing into servers. InfoCorp.'s Sakakeeny
estimated the worldwide server market, including software and peripherals,
at $17 billion for 1993, growing to $28 billion in 1997.

  "The good news is they're in a hot market, but the bad news is it's
crowded," said Sakakeeny.

  By Maria Shao, The Boston Globe

[03-24-93 at 15:10 EST, Copyright 1993, Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News,
File: t0324150.804]

============================================================================

    	 This truly looks like (Product X - Code Name is DEC Proprietary
    and Confidential) that was 're-directed' to what is being proposed
    now.   Also looks very similar to the situation that occurred early in
    the 70's with Data General.   Several engineers got tired and went out
    founded a company that focused more on technology.  
    
    	If this is true and he (Mr. Olsen) is really involved.....will
    history repeats itself again.   Truly remarkable if it even get close.
    He (Mr. Olsen) will truly be the 1900's Ultimate Entrepreneur or
    The Entrepreneur of the Century !
    

Say more about the TOWER project.  Did the design allow for integration of an
AXP CPU?  

Concerning failed projects and people starting over, I do know that a project
team at uh.....UTC-MOSTEK for example known as the Edison project was 
discontinued and resurfaced a few months later as Flex computer.  My 
understanding was that there were not hard feelings, just an inability to
sustain investment into the board and cabinet level systems design while the core
business (DRAM-ASIC-Telecom) chips were selling at less than cost.

Another example is CONVEX.  I don't think in that case they took any technology
but as the Cooper's and Lybrand advertisement states -Not only knowledge but
KNOW HOW....   

    RE: last and Hi Barb in .8 (I was alittle upset too..)
    
    Absolutely !
    The tower(s) could accomodate a wide range of CPUs.
    The test beds were INTEL Express.
    The final product was to be AMI based.
    Upgrade to PENTIUM, and OF COURSE, ALPHA.
    
    Go figure...
    
    Rick A

    re: .8
    
    Why the indignant reaction?  You sound as if you think that KO is
    "stealing" from dear old Digital.

    I'm reading this note for the first time and I thought it was common
    knowledge that KO had started a new company, It was mention to me
    by a TSFO friend who interviewed with them in the beginning of Febuary
    
    
    Dave

    Someone said KO was on a national TV show this morning talking about
    his new company.  My source was once removed from the person who viewed
    it and did not provide much in the way of details.  I have since been
    looking through notes files trying to find details to no avail.
    
    Anyone have any more information on this?
    
    Kevin